At Children's Garden we have a wonderful tradition of hosting a parent's-only studio night, once a year, to transform our public space into something magical. This year we have been studying ancient Egypt and many of the students had some far reaching visions of what they would like to experience, including: a pyramid, the Nile river, a sarcophagus, a Sphinx and much more. We invited the parents to join us on Wednesday evening for a potluck followed by a creative extravaganza. We purchased and collected an array of media supplies and offered the ideas expressed by our students, to their parents, as a provocation. There was no set agenda and there were no directions given. Studio night is really seen as a community building opportunity, offering parents the chance to experience the open-ended process of creating and collaborating, with the aim of giving something back to the children. It is always inspiring to see the parents arrive, sometimes with trepidation, voicing concerns at never having been "a creative person", and in a few short hours they are transformed into confidently creative people.Here they are hard at work and play:
And here are the excited students' discovering "Ancient Egypt" the following day:
We look forward to watching how this new creative catalyst will evolve in the weeks and months to come.
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